08-05-2025
How a single comment allegedly led to a young Aussie being stabbed to death outside a kebab shop
It was a simple comment about littering that allegedly led to James Callahan being allegedly stabbed to death outside a kebab shop.
The 22-year-old had stopped for a meal on Beaumont Street in Hamilton, Newcastle in the early hours of November 17 at the time of the alleged attack.
More details have emerged since six people were arrested and charged with murder over the incident - including allegations that the girlfriend of one of the accused helped her partner to avoid arrest.
Mr Callahan and a friend were eating on the footpath when a woman threw some of her kebab out a car window as she drove past, according to a police fact sheet submitted to court and seen by The Sydney Morning Herald.
Mr Callahan made a comment about littering, prompting several of the woman's friends to fight him, police allege.
A patrolling police car broke up the scuffle, but although Mr Callahan and his friend moved to a nearby street, a car followed him and the woman's friends attacked again, police claimed.
One allegedly swung a metal pole at him while another kicked and punched him.
Police allege another man, Ryan Sampson, then got out of the car and stabbed Mr Callahan several times in the back and neck while he was lying face down, with one of his arms held out defensively.
Sampson's girlfriend, Teelah Cooper, called Sampson back to the car and drove away with him, police alleged.
The next day the couple sold their car, obtained another one and drove to Queensland, where Sampson was arrested, the document alleged.
Cooper is accused of being an accessory after the fact to murder and concealing an indictable offence.
Sampson and Cooper allegedly exchanged hundreds of calls while Sampson was behind bars, in breach of her bail conditions, with Cooper 'using another name to disguise her identity'.
Her bail was revoked and she was remanded in custody, but last week Justice Stephen Rothman in the NSW Supreme Court granted her bail with strict conditions. She will face court again on June 11.
Sampson, Jason Talbot, George James Fernando, Frank Allen and Alivia Briggs have been charged with murder over the alleged attack.
Dianne Fernando has been charged with principal in the second degree to murder.
A GoFundMe page for Mr Callahan's family paid tribute to the keen fisherman and environmentalist as a 'loved son, a brother and a remarkable friend'.
'I cannot thank him enough for the friendship he gave those around me, He could light up the universe with his smile and loved looking after his mates,' the page said.
